Boca Grande and Charlotte Harbor

We left Sarasota on December 6, then stopped overnight at the Crow's Nest Marina before going outside into the Gulf for Charlotte Harbor and Boca Grande. Here we are in a hurricane hole in this picture, rafted with Windy Affair. This was called Boca Grande Bayou: on one side were mangrove trees shielding us from the wind which was blowing hard out of the north; on the other side were expensive homes owned by some of the wealthiest people in Florida. We attached lines to the mangroves and had our anchors out in the channel. We were quite comfortable there as the wind blew hard against the backside of the trees.

This is a picture of Jazz, a trawler owned by Don Wallace. Don is the author of 7 Miles an Hour, an amusing book about the boating experience for liveaboards. When it came time to leave, we pulled anchor and started to follow Jack out the narrow and shallow channel. Jack quickly ran aground and we, having hung back, stayed put inside the bayou. Windy Affair returned after getting free and we tried to reanchor. Neither of us was able to reanchor after several tries. Jack decided to go again. He ran aground again, but was assisted by a young man in a powerboat who pulled him and washed a channel with his prop. We decided to wait for the tide to rise before we tried. We reanchored next to Jazz and were invited to tour the boat. Later, Don offered to take me out to sound the channel which we did. I decided to wait another half hour and then go for it. We powered out at six knots, hitting bottom and popping up three times before reaching the deeper water in the harbor. We reached Burnt Store Marina across Charlotte Harbor about two hours later.